The city was hit by the worst flooding in half a century last November, sparking outrage and reopening the debate over the long-delayed, scandal-ridden project.
“Within six months all the Mose sluice gates will be able to function for emergencies,” Brugnaro said, after a meeting with city officials on safeguarding Venice against flooding.
Brugnaro added that the project’s commissioner will soon announce when it will be definitively completed.
The enormous yellow barriers, which lie below the water’s surface, are designed to be raised during the exceptionally high tides which inundate the city several times a year.
The project began in 1991 and has so far cost more than €5.5 billion.
Since construction work started in 2003, the expected completion date has been repeatedly pushed back, with many locals blaming corruption on the delays.
The project has been controversial from the beginning, and opinion remains divided over whether it will really be able to prevent the city from flooding.
While citizens have long worried about the astronomically high cost of construction, NGOs, engineering firms, academics and the municipality of Venice itself have long questioned the project’s viability and the barrier’s stability in the face of rising sea levels.
